Whispering Hearts
by SparkyKnight
Summary: All I asked for was a simple life.Deal with my guilds antics, catch a smokie and pass my wizard exam in a few weeks. Suddenly, out of nowhere, this acolyte comes literally crashing into me and now my life is suddenly on the line at every twist and turn!
1. Encounter

My first Ragnarok Online fanfic. I made some changes from the original first chapter. I added some stuff to make it more interesting. So hope you enjoy the revised chapter one. I don't own Ragnarok Online or anything relating to it. XD, enjoy and hope you don't mind the strange pairing mage/acolyte.

**Chapter One: Encounter**

Her feet pounding on the ground of the forest, she could hear her heartbeat pounding in her ears as she continued running. She couldn't stop running, running from those people, her fears. The rain poured unmercifully on the ragged cloak she was wearing, with water pouring down her back as her hair was plastered to her head. She nearly cried out when she tripped over a tree root, but was muffled from the storm above her thundered. She was panting and winced as she moved to get up. She could feel the bruises and cuts reopening, the rain washing away the blood that had covered them. She tried to hear something, but the rain just came down even harsher as the storm was getting worse.

'_I got to hurry…'_

she thought as she grabbed her weapon and used it to help push her up from the soaked earth. She quickly looked behind her and she could feel the fear creeping back into her as she saw several shadowy figures moving around in the forest behind her. Getting to her feet quickly she ran into another part of the forest and took what little shelter she could find under a tree. Curling up into a ball as she wrapped her arms around herself she prayed that she wouldn't be caught. Freezing when she felt several presences near her she held her breath.

"Dammit!! The little wrench managed to get away!!"

"Finding her in this storm isn't going to help much…its washing away her tracks before I can follow them."

"Looks like we have to stop the search for now…"

"Shit…and who exactly is going to tell the boss that we did?"

"……….."

"Fine…we'll continue looking but if the storm gets any worse we are LEAVING."

"I would prefer taking my chances with the storm then the boss…."

"Shut up and get moving moron."

Once the voices had faded away, she looked past the trees and released the breath.

'_Thank god…they're gone at least for now' _

She leaned against the tree for support. Pulling herself up and headed in the other direction she heard those voices going. All of a sudden, she felt she chest tighten considerably making her fall to her knees coughing. Her whole body was shaking as she took several deep breaths, trying to breathe normally.

'_What's wrong with me?'_ she asked herself, as her body felt like several pounds of iron. Her vision was already getting hazy and she could feel her face feeling warm.

'_I'm…sick? I've been running for so long I forgot to take care of myself…'_ were her thoughts as she weakly tried to continue.

She wanted to get out of this forest so that those…those people wouldn't find her. She didn't want to go back to that place, ever. Unconsciously she gripped something hanging from around her neck, determined to get out of here sickness or not. Her body had other plans though. Slowly she felt herself getting more exhausted and tired. Her vision was starting to fade in and out from black to the path in front of her. It was getting harder to see and stay standing up. All of a sudden she saw someone moving in front of her and she quickly took a step back.

'_N-no!! I thought they had gone the other way, I don't want to go back go away...please…GO AWAY!!!' _she mentally shouted but had said the last part out loud making the person in front of her suddenly stop. She felt her back hit against the tree and she slid down onto the cold wet ground, wrapping her arms around herself.

"_Please…just go away…"_ she whispered as tears were spilling from her eyes under the hood of the cloak as she let out a raspy breath. She was starting to loose consciousness faster and flinched when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"_I'm not going to hurt you, just take it easy…"_ she heard a voice above her say. She didn't care at the moment. All she wanted to do was leave her pain and just rest.

'_Just don't hurt me…'_

………………………….

He stared down at the unconscious figure in front of him. 'I wonder what happened to make them react like this…' he thought as he lifted the figure up into his arms and was surprised at how light and lithe the person was.

'_It must be a girl. That voice kind of gave it away too. Better get her out of this weather…'_ he added and without another thought he took a butterfly wing out of his pack and crushed it and disappeared from the forest.

He reappeared in front of the inn in Payon town and hurried inside, where he was met with the warmth of the roaring fire and other travelers just taking a nice break from the storm that had appeared. Just as he was heading towards the stairs, he felt his hood of his own cloak being pulled down revealing dark auburn locks and light brown eyes as he was suddenly pulled away and almost dropped the girl.

"Whoa!! Hey what's the…oh hey Kaze." He sighed as he shifted the girl in his arms. His friend raised an eyebrow as he pointed a finger to the person he was carrying.

"Yo mage-boy carrying your girlfriend?" he asked snickering.

He glared at his friend. Despite him being an assassin, he was pretty laid back and opened. Not to mention very annoying with his comments of trying to get him hooked up with a girlfriend. God knows how long he's been trying to set him up with someone since he was a thief. He was still wondering if he should or shouldn't know how Kaze knew all these girls.

"Stop with the mage-boy junk Kaze." He grumbled, "you know my name so use it before you accidentally catch on fire."

Kaze held his hands up in defense while laughing.

"Alright, alright. I'm sorry Zion." He replied running a hand through is chocolate locks. "but you still haven't explained why you're carrying around that person in your arms."

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes Zion replied, "I found her on my way back from trying to tame a Smokie."

"Hahaha no luck still huh." Kaze laughed while the other boy scowled. "I was getting so close until this storm showed up and scared them back into the forest."

"Eh, really? Any idea what someone would be doing in the storm?" he asked. Zion shook his head.

"I don't know either, but she seemed pretty scared of something."

"She? So it IS a girl…" the assassin smirked, but blinked when the boy in front of him suddenly disappeared and headed to where the others were sitting at. When one of the priestess at the table saw Zion, she stopped her conversation with the female assassin and stood up to walk over to wave to him, but saw that he couldn't wave back because of something he was carrying.

"Hey Zion everything alright?" she asked, looking at the brown-haired mage worried. It wasn't often that the mage showed concern to others even though she had known him long enough to tell what he was thinking at times. Light chocolate eyes looked back into her light green ones as he held the cloaked figure out to her.

"Drusilla, could you come with me and take a look at her?" he replied looking down at the figure.

He probably should've taken the hood off of her head but he had wanted to get out of the storm as soon as possible. Kaze was quiet as he looked between the girl and his mage friend wondering how exactly he had run into her.

Drusilla nodded and walked back to the other occupants at the table were wondering what was going on. "I'll be right back guys. Try not to let Rue drink too much alcohol." She said laughing, as the others soon joined in but the said person. The whole table erupted with laughter minus the said person who grumbled and sulked.

"Hahaha guys that only happened ONCE!!" a white haired assassin said as he took a swing of his glass, glowering at the others still laughing. The female assassin next to him laughed gently as she was patting his shoulder gently, trying to comfort him.

"Aw you know they're only teasing you Rue." She giggled.

"Yea, yeah…"

"Even though you should've expected Jak and Zeph to pull something like that after the training you gave them."

"Pift. Its not my fault the morons couldn't tale a few laps around morroc."

"It was the MIDDLE of the afternoon mister-high-and-mighty!!" retorted the dark haired thief.

"Yeah and since when do sages do physical labor like that!! I work my mind not my body!!" groaned the red haired sage next to the thief. "Ugh…I can still my muscles aching"

"You need to raise your endurance genius." Muttered Rue grabbing his mug again as Jak and Zeph grumbled and looked at each other.

"Do you think we maybe should've used sticky mucus instead of squid ink dear brother?" Zeph the red head sage said looking at the thief.

"Maybe then we could've used grand peco peco feathers to stick to him instead of having to 'borrow' Seth's marine sphere, those would give some color to that pale complexion of his brother." Jak added.

Rue's left eye started twitching as he was glaring at the two plotting brothers that were ignoring his presence, but was saved from the trouble of hurting the two brothers when the resident alchemist stood up and pointed a finger at the two.

"I KNEW IT!!" the light haired brown boy with golden tips said glared at the two. "I KNEW you two sneak in my room and take my Maria!!"

"Maria?" the two asked raising an eyebrow.

"MY PRECIOUS MARINE SPHERE YOU STOLE!! GET BACK HERE SO I CAN DO TO YOU WHAT YOU DID TO MY FIRST EXPERIMENT!!" Seth shouted chasing after the two throughout the inn, much to the amusement of the other occupants.

Zion and Drusilla quickly made their way up to where the rooms are, followed by a curious assassin trailing after them. Zion opened the door to the room he shared with Kaze and laid the girl on Zion's.

"Well first let's remove the cloak and she how she is…" Drusilla said and unclasped the cloak and removed it. Kaze whistled.

"Wow…for an acolyte she ain't half bad looking."

"Kaze grow up would you? Besides she looks younger than you" Drusilla sighed, as she brushed a few stray bangs away from the girls' face. Kaze stuck out his tongue childishly at the priestess.

"Hey, I'm not complaining, 'sides she doesn't look THAT younger, she looks to be about Zizi"

"Don't call me ZIZI!! IT'S ZION!! I AM NOT A LITTLE KID!!"

"Hahaha Zizi!! Of course you're a little kid! You're the youngest one here!!"

"So what!? At least I'm not an air-headed, womanizing assassin!!"

"Hey I am NOT an air head!!"

"Right…and that time with the firewall scroll was…?

"Are you calling me an idiot?"

"You said it not me….moron...and you didn't deny being a womanizer"

"I am not a womanizer! I simply like to compliment beautiful women"

"You **FLIRT** with anybody that has a good looking slim body, long hair and a pretty face."

"I do not!!"

"What about that one time with that **MALE **priest?"

"That was ONE mistake!! And he had a very convincing feminine face!!"

"Did it help that he was into other guys?"

"Argh!! Shut UP about that before I silence you myself!!"

"Try it poring for brains!!"

"C'mere you brat!!"

The priestess twitched annoyed at the mage and assassin arguing, did what she did best. Get them to be quiet by introducing them to her weapon. A nice THICK bible she carried around. Since she had let her friend borrow her stunner.

**KA-THWAP!!!**

"OWIE!!"

"Did you have to hit me THAT hard!?!"

"If it got the two you to quiet you then yes!! You're lucky I didn't have my stunner…"

"Couldn't you have just used lex divina and silenced us both?" grumbled Zion rubbing his head.

"Then you two wouldn't LEARN anything. Now shut up before I get out the stone table." The priestess retorted.

The mage and assassin now supporting new lumps on their heads gave each other one last look before they turned their attention back to the girl who was gently placed onto the bed.

Dark purple locks were wet and sticking to her face as there was a visible flush there. She was taking deep breaths and moaned every few seconds. Putting a hand onto the girl's forehead she quickly pulled it back.

"Her forehead is BURNING!! Kaze go downstairs and get me a tub or bucket of water along with a wash cloth." Drusilla said hurriedly. The assassin nodded and disappeared out the door.

"What do you want me to do?" Zion asked as he watched the priestess at work. He watched as Drusilla carried the lavender haired girl off to the bathroom, along with the girl's traveling bag.

"Get a first aid out, I'm going to change her out of her wet clothes and let them dry then you can help me check for any injuries." The priestess replied slamming the door behind her.

Zion blinked as he stared at the wooden door. Walking back to his bed he kneeled down and pulled out his first aid kit that he kept in his bag and laid it on the dresser. He looked to the side and saw the girl's own satchel and sighed. He picked it up and headed to the bathroom and knocked on the door. Drusilla poked her head out and looked confused at why Zion was holding out the girl's bag.

"If you're going to change her out of the acolyte clothes, don't you think she should have a pair of pajamas or spare clothes to put on?" he asked.

Drusilla blushed embarrassed as she laughed nervous, taking the satchel.

"Whoops, thanks Zion I'll be done in a minute." She said and shut the door behind her.

Once the door was closed the priestess laughed lightly as she held the satchel and walked back to the unconscious girl.

"I can't believe I forgot to get a change of clothes for her." Drusilla said to herself as she placed the bag next to her and laid the girl in the tub.

She then started to peel off the wet cloak and put it on one of the hooks that were on the wall. She then removed the other things the girl had on, the socks, cuffs, gloves, shoes and the outer part of the acolyte uniform. Slowly she unbuttoned the top of the dress and removed it. Once she saw what was underneath it though she took a sharp gasp.

"Oh my lord…"

The mage shrugged as he sat on his own bed and was about to lie down, until a small brown leather pouch was spotted on the floor. He picked it up and was surprised by the weight of the object that was inside.

'_I wonder what's inside…I know it's not mine nor is it Kaze's or Drusilla's…'_ he thought as he tossed the bag up and caught it with his hand. "Should I look…?" Zion asked himself staring at the pouch.

He silently debated for about two minutes before shaking his head. "It wouldn't be right…it intrude on her belongings." He said quietly and put the pouch secure in the drawer.

As he closed the drawer up, the bathroom door quickly opened up and Drusilla came back in with a pale face as she held the girl in her arms. He could see the acolyte clothes hung in the bathroom while the girl was wearing a long sleeved forest green nightgown. Getting up immediately he helped the priestess put the acolyte onto the bed. He was worried; not only for the girl, but about Drusilla. There was very little that could make her face go as white as it did. And that wasn't a lot of things.

"Drusilla…what did you see…?" Zion asked, suddenly wondering if the acolyte girl was actually someone dangerous.

"You'll see Zion…" she whispered as she looked over the girl. Drusilla had taken her hair out of the low pigtails so her hair was flowing around her.

Looking at the priestess wordlessly he brought out the first aid kit as Drusilla took a deep breath and rolled up the sleeves of the nightgown up to her elbows. Zion's eyes widened, as he stared at what exactly he was staring at. Scars upon scars were embedded into her light skin, there looked to be deeper and newer ones near the girl's wrist.

"Why would she…I mean…what HAPPENED to her!?" exclaimed Zion trying hard not to yell, but he couldn't help but refuse to calm down. Wasn't it a sin against god to commit suicide? And here was an acolyte had the markings that she had tried several times!

Drusilla just shook her head as she bandaged up the scarred skin after she had finished applying some medicine and a small heal spell. "She was still unconscious when I was washing her up, though she did flinch a bit whenever I applied pressure to her wrists…"

"I see…" was all Zion said, since by this time Kaze had come back carrying a small tub of warm water and a washcloth.

"Here's the water and washcloth you asked for. Anything else?" the assassin asked.

"No…you two go downstairs. I'll stay with here and watch over her." She replied dipping the washcloth into the water and laying it on her forehead.

"You sure? I mean this is Zi-…er...Zion and my room…" Kaze replied quickly saying his friend's name when he saw him muttering the spell for a particularly nasty lightning bolt.

"I'll watch her. You and Kaze can go back to the others." Zion replied folding his arms and dismissing the spell. Kaze let out a relieved breath as he held a hand to his heart trying to calm it down.

"You sure?" Drusilla asked looking at the young mage. She really didn't want to force him to watch her.

"Yeah, I was going to just read anyway. I don't exactly want to be down there when Zeph and Jak spike Rue's drink…again." He muttered. "and that includes you too Kaze."

Drusilla threw a withering glare at the assassin who was quickly retreating out of the room when he heard what his mage friend had added at the end of his sentence.

"Whoops sorry but I think I hear the others calling, see ya!!" and with that he ran off.

"That stupid little…conniving…son of a, just wait until I get him…" growled Drusilla as she stomped downstairs. "him and the two other stooges are going to get a nice holy light blast right in the kisser…"

Zion winced at the threat as the door closed behind the fuming priestess. _'Never get on Drusi's bad side or make her agitated…'_ he thought to himself, using the nickname he had given the priestess. He sighed and did a short silent prayer for the three stooges. He grabbed a chair along with his book and got comfortable as he watched over the acolyte as the candlelight glowed in the room.

……………………

_I'm so tired of being here,_

_Suppressed by all my childish fears_

Zion shifted in his chair and his eyes quickly opened as he looked around the now darken room. _'Damn…I rest my eyes for five minutes and I fall asleep…' _he thought to himself. He looked over to the other side of the room where Kaze was. He could hear Kaze snoring and figured the assassin got into bed few hours ago. He got out of the chair as he groaned about sleeping in that uncomfortable chair for so long.

'_Dang muscles cramped up practically…wait a minute…who's singing?'_

Wide awake now he looked towards the bed and let out a quiet gasp. The girl was missing. He was going to be in big trouble with Drusilla if he didn't find her. Especially if she went through with what she did to the three stooges. Stretching out his limbs a bit more, he stood there quietly and listened to who ever were singing.

_And if you have to leave_

'_cause your presence still lingers here_

_and it won't leave me alone_

He started moving slowly through the room, and heard that it was actually coming from the balcony that was in the room. He made his way to the balcony and gently pushed the doors opened. There, as the clouds of the storm were passing over, the moon suddenly appeared making a sort of tranquil glow coming down. This time he could hear the lyrics much stronger now.

_These wounds won't seem to heal_

_This pain is just too real_

_There's just too much that time cannot erase_

He stepped closer to the source and he shouldn't be surprised that it was the acolyte he had found that was singing. Though…as he listened more closely he thought he could hear a sense of longing and sadness from it. He shook his head of those thoughts. He didn't even know the girl, and here he was already getting ideas from a stupid song?

_When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears,_

_When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears_

_I held your hand through all of these years_

_But you still have_

_All of me_

"You know that's a very depressing song, take requests?" Zion asked interrupting the girl, catching her off guard as she swerved around and glared at him as she held out her swordmace.

"…….who are you….?" She asked not taking any chances as she was in a defensive position

Zion took a few minutes to examine her. Her sleeves to her nightgown were rolled up showing the bandages that were wrapped there. The auburn haired mage also noticed that she was slightly shaking and she was taking quick gasps of breath. He took a small step forward and introduced himself.

"My name is Zion. I'm the one who saved you from the storm before you went unconscious." He replied. "what were you doing in the middle of the payon forest? Didn't you see the storm coming?"

The girl frowned.

"In….the forest? Saved me…?" she whispered in a confused tone. Was she saved? What had happened to her.? All she could remember was something…something important. Her eyes suddenly widen as a look of fear was replaced on her face. Dropping her weapon she immediately held her head. Zion noted that her face had gone to almost a deathly pale as her eyes widen and she started to sweat.

"N-no!! I don't want to…let me go…don't t take me back!!" she practically cried out as tears were seeping through her eyes as she fell to her knees.

The mage getting worried for the girl who had suddenly changed moods strode over and wrapped his arms around her. He could feel her form shaking uncontrollably in his arms.

"H-hey!! Calm down, tell me what happened so I can help you!" he said trying to get the girl to say complete sentences instead of fragments. But nothing seemed to work. She was near hysterics and didn't look like she was going to calm down anytime soon. At this rate she was probably going to wake the entire inn. He needed to do SOMETHING to calm the girl down. He liked to stay warm tonight and not get kicked out of the Inn.

He looked at the girl and just as it looked like she was about to let out a loud cry, he then without thinking covered the girl's lips with his own. Effective immediately, the girl's body shaking stopped as so did her cries. He could still feel the girl's cheeks stained with tears as her eyes slowly closed and fell back into the darkness. Zion pulled away…in shock of what he had done as now he had an exhausted acolyte that had cried herself to sleep that refused to let go of his robes.

"What…the HELL did I do?"

_To Be Continued……._


	2. Getting to Know You

**Sparky: Thanks for everyone that reviewed for this story! I apologize for taking so long to update. Got a bit of writer's block and stuff kept happening. Hahaha, as for when I thought the mage/aco pairing was weird, I guess I was wrong. Thanks for all the comments and enjoy the second chapter!**

**Chapter Two: Getting to Know You**

He watched as the girl was breathing softly as he laid her on his bed. He was still a bit ruffled because she had yet to let go of his mage robes and he would like to keep them nice. Since she had refused to let go, he ended up being pulled on to the bed next to the girl as she had wrapped her arms tightly around him. He sighed.

'_This is going to be hell to explain in the morning…'_ he thought grumbling as he shifted around trying to get more comfortable and trying to keep his hands away from the girl. Lest not to grow suspicion.

He had managed to take off his mage's cloak and was just in his shirt and pants, so he was left lying in the bed staring at the ceiling with an unknown girl attached to his side. When he felt the girl moving closer to him he turned his head the other way, trying very hard not to blush.

'_Stupid girl…why do women have to get so emotional…' _

With that thought he managed to turn over and close his eyes falling asleep.

The next morning Zion had a rude awakening when he felt his cheek being pinched. Annoyed, he let out a small growl and opened his tired eyes to end up staring into Kaze's laughing brown eyes.

"Awww…did Zi-chan find a little girlfriend while everyone's back was turned?" he asked snickering.

"Go jump off a cliff Kaze." scowled Zion as he tried to sit up, but the weight of a certain acolyte was refusing to let go of the warm pillow she was currently still sleeping on. This just got Kaze snickering louder and trying to hide his laughter behind his hand.

"She seems rather comfortable eh Zion?" he said giving him a certain look.

Zion just muttered something under his breath as he slowly pried the girl's arms off from around him. Once he was out of her grasp he placed a pillow in her arms as she hugged it closer to her body.

"Well, how did it feel to have a girl pressed oh so innocently against you Zi-chan?" he asked.

"Kaze…"

"Yep?"

"You have five seconds"

"Eh?"

"5…4…"

"O...oi! you're not gonna…aw come on its just barely morning!"

"3….2…"

"Run away! Psychotic mage on the loose!"

Zion diminished the firebolt spell and quietly walked out of the room. Before he left, he gave one last look at the girl before closing the door quietly behind him as he went to join his friends downstairs to join the others for breakfast. When he got down he sat next to Drusilla who was sipping some tea.

"Sleep well Zion?" she asked smiling gently at him. Kaze snorted into his pancakes but kept his eyes trained on the food, ignoring the glare he was getting from Zion who just sighed.

"It was fine." He muttered and thanked the female assassin as she put some food in front of him and some hot coco.

"Well that's good. So what're you guys planning to do with the girl?" she asked sitting next to Rue. She sighed and poked his head, trying to get him awake before he fell asleep on his scrambled eggs.

"I dunno…wait…what are you two gonna be doing?" asked Zion looking at them. The female assassin sighed.

"We got notified yesterday that we have to meet our guild in morroc. So we have to leave soon." She replied.

"More missions huh, well it was only a matter of time." Kaze replied yawning. "You two going also?"

Jak and Zeph nodded sulking.

"Yeah…Trish practically kicked us outta our nice warm beds…" Jak whined.

The girl huffed.

"If you lazybones hadn't tried to spike Rue's drink and ended up running away from Drusilla half the night," she retorted.

"Besides that fact, the guild leader wants all assassins meeting and discussing some of the older members to meet with the valkyrie about changing to assassin of the cross." Sighed Tish. "I know he wants us to get stronger but making us change? Isn't that a bit much?"

Rue sighed as he stood up and stretched. "Probably, but I think pretty much most of them want to get stronger faster and what better way then change to assassin cross?"

Tish just grumbled about power hungry guild leaders before she gulped down her drink, making the others sweat.

"She drained her coffee fast…." Jak said.

"Never get on Tish's badside…" Zeph added.

"And you two have yet to learn from that lesson." Rue said wryly as the other two assassins whistled innocently.

"cough well I think it's about time we should be going, don't want to be late now do we." Jak laughed nervously.

"You just want to get there to look at the female assassins." Snorted Tish.

"Come on you two, lets go before I end up dragging your unconscious hides to the meeting again." Rue added as he headed towards the door with the other two assassins following quickly.

"So when do you think we'll be able to meet up again?" yawned Kaze as he took slow sips of his drink.

"Dunno…you know how these missions are. At least a few weeks." Tish replied.

"Damn. So we'll see you in the usual spot later then." Kaze said and waved as Tish nodded and left.

Drusilla, Kaze and Zion were left at the table wondering what their schedule was.

"Well first things first." Drusilla said breaking the silence. "I think we should find out more about the little acolyte and what she was doing."

Kaze was about to open his mouth and say something when Zion waved a fork in his face and he quickly shut his mouth.

Rolling her eyes at Kaze's antics and how childish he was sometimes. Since now the assassin was pouting that his fun had been ruined and was poking his eggs with his fork. She turned towards the mage as he had finished up his breakfast and was drinking his hot chocolate quietly. Zion raised an eyebrow as he caught the priestess looking at him.

"Yes Drusilla?"

"Did anything happen last night with the acolyte?

Zion's eyes widened and started to choke making him cough. Once he was able to speak again he turned towards the priestess and replied, "Err...well she did wake up for a bit then went back to sleep."

"Was she okay? Did she hurt too much? Were the bandages too tight?" Drusilla asked making Zion sweat a bit at the priestess.

"She was upset, but not because of the bandages, it's probably had something to do with the way I found her." Zion replied frowning as he remembered. "She said she didn't want to go back to some place."

"Well until she's better I say we watch over her for a bit." Drusilla stated.

"Just like that? You're going to take her in?" Kaze asked looking at the priestess who was glaring at him now.

"Why not? You saw how badly she was battered. It would be stupid to leave here alone to who know what's after her." She replied.

"Right, right. It's also your 'priestess' instincts that want to care for someone who's hurt too." Kaze added and dodged a blow from Drusilla's book.

"Don't make me give you another lump on that head of yours Kaze…" she growled.

"Yeah yeah.." muttered Kaze as he rubbed the new lump he had on his head and glared at the priestess who turned away.

"So now that breakfast is over with, let's go check on the girl shall we?" Drusilla said.

Zion and Kaze nodded and followed the priestess up the stairs and to Zion and Kaze's room where the girl had been staying since yesterday. She quietly opened the door and walked in, not wanting to accidentally wake her up if she was still sleeping. When she heard no sound, she opened the door fully and walked in.

She looked towards the bed and saw that the girl was still sleeping.

"Well that's good, now to check her bandages and…" she started as she walked towards the bed, but before she could try and take a good look at the girl, her eyes shot wide opened revealing confused blue eyes as she looked around frantically. When she saw how close Drusilla was she let out a noise and backed away until she hit the backboard of the bed.

"Hey now…calm down we aren't going to hurt you…I just want to make sure that you're alright and…" she tried again but the girl just shook her head, as her body started shaking again.

"N…no! You're with them aren't you? I don't want to go back you can't make me!" she replied as tears seeped through her eyelids as she wrapped her arms around her legs and curled up.

Drusilla looked at Kaze and Zion worriedly.

"This isn't good…I can't treat her if she's like that and her wounds may reopen!" Drusilla said.

Zion moved towards the bed, ignoring Kaze and Drusilla who were watching his every move. He made it to the bed and sat down on it and reached out his hand until it lay on the girl's shoulder, making her flinch and look up to see whose hand that was. When she saw that it was Zion, instead of having the reaction that she had with Drusilla, she instead wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his shirt as Zion just sighed and patted her head.

"Those two are my friends you can trust them okay?" he said quietly to the girl.

At first she was nervous as she looked over to the other two people in the room, but if the boy she was clinging to said that these two were his friends, then they couldn't be apart of them. She quietly nodded her head.

"Good, okay now you can let go of me now…" he said but sweated when that was something she quickly refused to do. "They aren't that scary…well maybe Kaze because of his stupidly but other then that…"

Still the girl refused to let go and just held Zion tighter.

"Wow…you barely met and already she doesn't want to let you go." Snickered Kaze.

"If she wasn't clinging to me at the moment Kaze, then you would be in a world of pain…" growled Zion.

"Don't want to hurt me with your little girlfriend watching?" he asked.

"No, I just think that if I tried to attack you with my magic that Drusilla and the girl would be caught too." Zion replied.

"Thank you so much for caring Zion." Drusilla sighed. She headed back towards the girl and started to look over her wounds. She did a few heals on a couple of them and removed some of the bandages, but kept the ones wrapped around the girl's wrists.

"Well you look in better condition now. So what's your name? My name is Drusilla, that's Kaze and you already know Zion." She said pointing to each person.

The girl shyly looked up at everyone and said something very faintly.

"I'm sorry could you say that again? That was a bit too quiet for any of us to hear." Drusilla said.

"M…my name is Auraiel Hikari…but everyone just calls me Aura." She said.

The priestess smiled making Aura feel a bit better. "That's a really pretty name Aura. Now, if it's alright would you be able to answer a few questions?" she asked.

She saw Aura bite her lip nervously as she looked from Drusilla and Kaze before burying her face in the embarrassed mage's clothes.

'Women…so damn emotion and clingy….' He thought resisting the urge to push the girl away.

"You don't have to answer some questions if you don't want to; we just want to know a few things. Now would you mind letting go of Zion please?" Drusilla asked gently.

Aura nodded a bit hesitantly and slowly unwrapped herself from the mage, much to his relief. Moving so he was off the bed and standing next to Kaze as he could feel his legs had nearly fallen asleep since the acolyte had been sitting on them.

"Okay let's start with some easy questions alright? Where did you come from?" Drusilla asked.

Aura looked a bit confused. "You mean what city I was born in?" she asked, "well… I was born around Geffen…"

Drusilla looked a bit confused. "Around Geffen? Don't you mean in Geffen?"

Aura shook her head. "Not really…my family traveled a lot so we weren't in one place for very long…"

"But why did your parents drag you along? Couldn't they have left you with an aunt or something?" Kaze asked scratching his head. Aura bent her head down a bit.

"There were…certain circumstances…." She said quietly.

"I see…well do you have any brothers or sisters?" Drusilla asked trying to change the topic.

"Well…I did have an older brother…but I haven't seen him in ages. He left my parents a few years ago so I don't really know what happened to him." Aura replied.

"Ahaha…er…well…" Drusilla said nervously. Her attempt to try and change the subject had basically blown up in her face.

Aura sighed and reached for around her neck, and the three people watching her blinked when they saw her violet eyes widen in a bit of a panic as she was frantically searching for something.

"Oh no! Where is it? It didn't fall off did it? Oh please say I didn't lose it!" she cried throwing off the blankets and looking around.

"Aura? What did you exactly loose?" Drusilla asked concern.

"It…it was a leather pouch that I had around my neck…there was something really important to me inside of it." The acolyte replied.

Zion let out a sigh as he walked over to the dresser next to the bed and opened the drawer and pulled out the said pouch and tossed it to Aura.

"There. Now stop your whining."

Aura blinked and stared at the little pouch. A slow smile crept to her face as she hugged it tightly to her chest.

"Th…thank you Zion…"

The mage didn't say anything but turned around.

"Hey what's in there anyway that's so important?" Kaze asked curiously moving closer to the acolyte who had been staring at the Zion's back.

"Um…ju…just something my parents left me. I…I don't really want to show it sorry…:" she said backing away nervously.

The priestess rolled her eyes and yanked back the annoying assassin.

"Ever heard of personal space you idiot? Get back here." She stated.

"You really need to lighten up. It was just a question." Kaze replied.

"Yes, but you don't need to be two inches away from her face to ask her." Drusilla replied.

"So what are we doing now?" Zion asked breaking up the usual fight between the priestess and assassin before it escalated.

Drusilla looked thoughtful.

"Well, we did plan on heading for Glast Heim graveyard." The priestess replied. Kaze swerved his head and looked at Drusilla.

"What? But I thought you said we were going to the prison not the graveyard!" he cried.

"I know! But now that we have Aura I don't know if she's strong enough for the prison!" Drusilla hissed, but then blinked when she saw Kaze move from in front of her to next to the bed staring at Aura.

"Aura-chan do you think you can handle the Glast Heim prison? Pleasepleasepleaseplease?" asked Kaze with a hint of begging.

"Um…well…before I came to payon I did spend some time in Glast Heim with one of my friends and her group in the graveyard." Aura replied quietly.

"See! She has been to Glast Heim! Can we please go to the prison this time? The graveyard is too easy! Well except for that awful Dark lord and minions." Kaze muttered as he scrunched up his nose.

"I told you the minions could attack from a distance. You're lucky I was near you to teleport away." The priestess stated.

"Yeah yeah. So Aura-chan wanna come to the prison with us?" Kaze asked turning his attention back to the green haired acolyte.

"Well, I guess it shouldn't be too bad. Sure." She replied.

"Yeeeess! Thank you!" Kaze shouted out loud jumping around the room happily.

"Sometimes I really wonder if he was suited for the assassin class." Groaned Zion staring at his friend. "isn't that class focused on being on stealth and being QUIET?"

Drusilla shook here head and pushed Zion and Kaze out of the room.

"Alright, alright. We're going to the prison so you two already packed?" she asked just as they were outside the room.

"Yeah? Why?" Zion asked.

"Good, now you two just wait downstairs while I help Aura get dressed. With that, she slammed the door in the boy's faces making them blink.

"They better not take long…" grumbled Kaze as he walked down the stairs. Zion just followed quietly.

It didn't take very long, much to the boy's relief as after a few minutes they saw Drusilla walking down with Aura behind her.

"Well, we got everything packed up. Now do we have all our supplies?" she asked.

"I got some herbs, white potions and blue potions." Zion said.

"Mastera fruits, honey, concentration potions and some whites too." Kaze added.

"Plenty of whites, greens, blues and a few scrolls just in case." Drusilla said. "What about you Aura?"

"Um…just a few yellow potions, greens and three concentrations potions." She replied.

"Well we have plenty to go around so don't worry okay?" Kaze said patting her head.

"Su…sure!" Aura replied a bit taken back by the assassin patting her head. The brown haired sin turned towards the priestess.

"You do have the warp to the prison right? I don't exactly want to walk all the way there like last time." He said.

"Oh keep your katars on. I have the warp." Drusilla replied rolling her eyes.

The group of four walked out of the inn and headed outside of payon. Once they were some distance away from payon they stopped and Drusilla took out a blue gem.

"Warp portal!" she called out and immediately the jewel started to glow and she dropped it onto the ground. As soon as the blue gem had made contact with the earth a portal appeared.

"Well? Jump in if you want to get to the prison." She said.

"Yes ma'am!" grinned Kaze as he eagerly jumped in. Zion shook his head and followed after the jubilant assassin.

"Well? Aren't you going to join them Aura?" Drusilla asked.

"Oh right! I'm sorry!" she said smiling a bit and jumped in. The priestess soon followed. Just before the warp was about to close a figure in the shadows made its way to the portal. A smirk grew on its face as it stared at the portal.

"Heh, thought you gotten rid of me did you little acolyte?" and went inside right before the portal closed.

…………………………………

"Haha! Take this!" smirked Kaze as he did another sonic blow to a zombie prisoner, watching in glee as it soon fell to the ground and disappeared. The assassin whistled a happy tune as he collected the spoils.

"Can you please TRY not to give away our position to the other monsters in here?" grumbled Zion as he let loose a fire wall on three zombie prisoners that had heard Kaze's shouts and finished them off with a few firebolts.

"Why are you complaining? You're getting experience." He replied. "Hey where are the girls?"

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! EWEWEWEWEWEW! **HOLY LIGHT**! **HOLY LIGHT**!"

"I believe we found Drusilla." Kaze said wondering what got the priestess riled up.

The two ran in the direction they heard the voice and when they got there both boys sweated at the scene.

Apparently Drusilla and Aura had a run in with an injustice. Now it wasn't that an Injustice was grotesque, it was just that…Injustice was a monster that looked like a guy walking around nude with body paint and needles in his arms and legs.

They watched as Drusilla kept hitting it with holy light and Aura, a lot calmer then the priestess went behind it and slammed her mace into the back of the Injustice's head. But that didn't finish it off. It just turned around and grabbed Aura's weapon about to rip it from the girl's hand and attack her. But Aura thought faster.

Both boys shuddered when the acolyte brought her foot out and kicked the injustice where any man would immediately fall. That did the trick as the Injustice seemed to just freeze and let go of her mace, allowing Aura to slam it into its chest throwing him back and against the wall making it disappear.

"I suddenly feel sorry for any injustice we run into…" Kaze said watching Aura go back to Drusilla.

"I feel sick having to witness that…" groaned Zion walking to the girls. "you two alright?"

"Yeah, Drusilla got a bit freaked out by the injustice." Aura replied laughing nervously.

"That's an understatement. Not to mention she looks a bit green in the face." Added Kaze snickering as the priestess growled and glared at the assassin.

"That thing is DISGUSTING! I mean it was…was…just so...UGH!" she cried throwing up her hands and stomping off.

"Hehehe…" was all Aura said as she scratched the back of her head.

"Hey Aura why weren't you grossed out liked Drusilla." Kaze asked curiously.

"Eh?"

"I mean if she had that reaction and she's older than you, why didn't you go crazy and attack it?" he added.

"Er…well, I kept my head above the waist and moved behind him to knock him out." She replied.

"So that means…." Kaze said and got an evil glint in his eyes and started to head the way Drusilla left.

The two left alone in the room could hear Kaze calling out.

"Oh Drusilla! And you called ME a pervert?"

"WHAT! YOU **ARE** A PERVERT YOU STUPID ASSASSIN!"

"Oh really? But I'm not the one who looked DOWN when the injustice came."

"That…that was a complete accident!

"Suuuurreee! That's what you say, what about the time you saw me?"

"KAZE YOU TRIED TO PEEK ON ME IN YOUR CLOAKING STATUS!"

"Hey look another injustice behind you!"

"EEEEEEYYYYAAAAAAHHHHH!"

"I think we better hurry and get to Drusilla before she has a mental breakdown." Sighed Zion as he started heading towards the hallway.

"Yeah…okay." Aura replied running to catch up with the mage.

Just as they were about to enter the hallway, a cold voice made them stop.

"_**Miss me little acolyte?"**_

Zion looked around for who ever had called out, gripping his arc wand tightly. He could see Aura out of the corner of his eye shaken slightly as she backed against him, clutching her mace.

"Who are you? Show yourself!" Zion shouted growling as he could feel a chill go down his spine.

"_**Now where would the fun be in that? Besides, I'm not interested in you. Just give me the acolyte and be on your way." **_

"Che! I'm not giving you anything without a reason, now show yourself you coward!" Zion retorted.

"_**Hehehe, big words from such a small mage. Think you can really handle me?"**_

To the mage and acolyte the voice seemed to be echoing off the walls, making whoever it was sound like they were everywhere. Zion noticed as the minutes passed, Aura's shaking seemed to be getting worse.

'_She did say that there were people after her. Is this one of them?'_ Zion thought to himself keeping a sharp eye out.

Suddenly before either of them knew it, a barrage of arrows was coming straight at them. Since neither of them knew where the attack was coming from or if the attacker was still there, Zion grabbed Aura and held her close to his body. Taking out a blue gem he quickly called out for some protection.

"**SAFETY WALL**"

Soon a pink barrier surrounded the two, protecting them from the projectiles. Just as the barrage ended, the barrier disappeared and the two quickly stood up, hoping to be ready for another attack.

"Where is this person?" hissed Zion, thoroughly annoyed. "Aura, do you know who this guy is?"

"N...not personally…but I know he was in the group that's after me." She replied quietly, not making eye contact with the mage.

"Why are they after you in the first place?" he asked frowning.

"I…I…" she started, but never got a chance as her answer got interrupted when two arrows suddenly came towards Aura she didn't have anytime to react and was soon pinned to one of the walls.

"Aura!" Zion shouted.

He ran over, dropping his guard to get the acolyte down. Her left sleeve had the two arrows through them keeping her up against the wall. She was trying to use her free hand to pull them out but was having little luck.

"Hold still, I don't want to accidentally burn you." Zion said as he concentrated and soon his hand was glowing with fire. Aura nodded didn't move a muscle as he touched the two arrows. Lucy for him they weren't the elemental arrows so they easily burned dropping the acolyte down back to the floor.

"We better get out of here and find Kaze and Drusilla quickly." He said grabbing her hand and running back towards the hallway.

"But do you even know where they are if we get out of here?" Aura asked.

"We can worry about that later! Right now I just want to get out this room and far away from whomever it is that's trying to capture-" Zion replied but got cut off when just as they were about to enter the hallway, the mage was thrown back by a lightning ball that paralyzed him as he crashed on the other side of the room.

Aura was about to run to the fallen mage when her arm was being gripped by something. She tried struggling but the grip just got tighter. Getting desperate to know what exactly was grabbing her and wanting to take care of the mage Aura called out a skill that would help her.

"**RUNWATCH**!"

A light blue fireball appeared and started to circle her. Its light illuminated the small area around her and she saw the shadow of her assailment as the blue fireball got rid of whatever was keeping her attacker invisible. Dark brown hair covered one side of his face as green eyes seem to stare right through her. A smirk made its way to his face as Aura recognized the class as who it was with the pirate bandana on his head.

"Haledon" gasped Aura.

The rouge smirked seeing the shocked look on the acolyte's face.

"So you DO remember me! Don't I feel special? Now let's hurry. You have all sorts of people waiting for you." Haledon said as he started to drag Aura out of the room.

"NO! Let me go! I'll never want to go with you and I have to get Zion!" she shouted as she dug her heels trying in vain to stop the rouge from making her abandon her friend.

"Why? You know just by being around him he's going to get in even worse shape." Haledon said nonchalantly.

Aura froze. "Wha…what? No way! I won't believe that now let me go! I got to help Zion!"

Haledon sighed. "Hmph, if this Zion is so important to you and is holding me back from completing my mission on bringing you back…" he started and held up a hand where Aura could see the forming of another lightning ball. "then I might as well finish him off so this will be easier."

"Don't you DARE! If you do that I'll…I'll…" Aura said looking from Haledon to the spot where Zion lay.

"You'll what? Better hurry and make your decision if you want your friend to live…" Haledon said maliciously.

"LET ME GO YOU SONOVA…." Growled Aura.

"Language, language you are an acolyte Auraiel." Haledon said mockingly and twisted her arm a bit more, making her cry out. "Now for you little mage friend, say goodbye…"

"**ICE STRIKE!"**

Before Haledon could cast his attack, he suddenly saw several ice spikes coming straight at him from his side. Aura bit the rouge's hand hard making him drop her and moved out of the way as the attack hit. It didn't freeze him completely, but the ice did manage to cover up to his knees.

"You surprised me with that Jupiter Lightning, that won't happen again." Smirked Zion as he stepped out of the shadows.

Aura was surprised. She thought that the attack would've hurt Zion more, but his clothes were just singed and burned slightly. But she did notice that he had a small trail of blood from his temple.

"That attack should've at least knocked out." Scowled Haledon.

"I'm more resistant to magic then you think. I've been training as a mage for a while now so I'm stronger then most would believe." Zion said as he helped Aura up.

"He didn't do anything to you did he?" the mage asked.

"Just twisted my arm a bit…" she replied rubbing the said arm.

"Don't think I'm out just because you froze my legs you stupid kid!" growled Haledon as he grabbed his bow and started to attack them. This time Aura stepped up in front of Zion.

"My turn! **PNEUMA!**" she shouted as a wall of green smoke appeared in front of the two making the arrows that were about to hit them useless.

Haledon cursed while the two smirked at each other.

"So you CAN fight…" he said.

"Hey of course I can Zion!" Aura said putting her hands on her hips.

"Fine then. Let's knock this guy unconscious so we can leave." He said and Aura nodded. She used buffs on herself and Zion before they moved to attack the rouge. Haledon kept throwing arrows at them, but Aura just countered with pneuma again, while Zion kept throwing lightning bolts at him. The two could see that they were managing to wear out the rouge, but unfortunately neither of them noticed that while Haledon was throwing arrows at them, he had been using his other hand to chip away at the ice as it had started to melt away. Before they knew it, the ice broke free and a predatory grin appeared on his face.

"Now the tables have turned…" he said before he disappeared.

"Shit…I didn't realize the ice would melt so fast…" growled Zion as he held his wand.

"Well he was keeping us pretty well distracted." Aura replied frowning.

"DUCK!" Zion shouted as the two separated as a Jupiter lightning came at them again. Zion was about to cast sight to try and detect the rouge but didn't need to as the rouge appeared in front of his face.

"Now you have good magic resistance…but what about physical?" sneered Haledon as he raised a fist, and it collided with Zion's buckler. The mage growled as he tried to push the older and obviously stronger rouge off of him, but was having no such luck.

"That won't stop me!" Haledon shouted.

Zion's eyes widened as he winced when he was suddenly kicked in the side of his body making him drop the shield and slid across the floor. Before he had a chance to get up he was being lifted by the front of his robes by the rouge. Aura tried helping by trying to attack Haledon from behind, but all the rouge did was cast the spell at her throwing her back.

"Now…what should I do with the little snot nosed mage…" Haledon asked. Zion just glared back at him and cursed at himself for not being strong enough to not get into this situation.

"Oh I know…I'll pay you back for that lovely ice attack you threw at me." He replied.

The mage soon felt white hot pain and let out a scream as the rouge had taken his dagger and cut him deeply in the chest. Looking at his work satisfied he threw the mage over to Aura who was just getting up. When she heard the sound of someone landing in front of her, blue eyes widened in horror as she saw Zion groaning in pain as there was blood coming out from the wound. Crawling over she pulled him close to her and pressed her gloves against the blood-soaked chest.

"Zi...Zion! No, no! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! **HEAL!" **Aura said desperately as a warm green glow surrounded her hands and was trying to heal and close the wound. Much to her horror she wasn't strong enough, because even if she had managed to stop the blood, it only lasted for a few seconds before it continued to spill.

"Wha…what are you doing you stupid girl? Get out of here and get Kaze and Drusilla!" hissed Zion gripping his chest. He could feel his head beginning to swim with the amount of blood he was starting to loose.

"Are you crazy? I can't leave you here with him! What about the monsters that are in this dungeon?" cried Aura shaking her head as she went back to trying to heal Zion. The mage let out a groan, but continued to glare up at the stubborn girl.

"You're going to waste your energy! You don't have enough power yet to heal me. Go and get Drusilla!" Zion tried again.

"Don't be stupid!" Aura snapped back also glaring.

"You're the one being stupid!"

"Aw…isn't this sweet? You two care so much for each other. How about I make it easy and just take the girl off of your hands?" Haledon smirked stepping up.

Zion barely had enough energy to sit up, but he glared darkly at the rouge. He managed to lift his arm up and grip onto Aura's tightly.

"Don't you touch her…" he hissed.

"Or what?" laughed Haledon as he stepped closer to the two, "you're going to attack me? I'm so scared!"

Zion just continued to glare at the rouge as he tried to remain conscious. Just as Haledon had brought out his dagger and was about to attack them again, Zion raised his arm.

"**Fire…Wall…"**

Haledon howled in pain when he felt his arm burning when the wall had suddenly appeared stopping his attack. Zion's breathing was becoming ragged but he narrowed his eyes at the rouge.

"You…are not getting Aura…" he rasped out. "over my dead body…"

"That…can be arranged fool…" Haledon stated glaring murderously at the two.

_To be continued…………._

**A/N XD;; cliffhanger gotta love these. Sooo whatcha think? What will happen to Zion and Aura with the rouge on top of them and Zion slowly bleeding to death.**

**Zion:…….you truly suck…**

**Aura: That was a bit mean don't you think?**

**Sparky: Hey! A little drama never hurts!**

**Zion: glares as long as YOUR not the one in pain…**

**Sparky: Ehehehe…review please!**


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